The invention relates to a mounting device for a brake pad in the housings of a disk brake yoke and, in particular, a device making it possible to facilitate the displacement of a brake pad support which is produced during braking and which makes it possible to avoid noise which often occurs during such an operation. The invention also relates to a disk brake provided with mounting devices according to the invention.
In a vehicle provided with disk brakes, each wheel which has to be braked by such a braking system comprises a brake disk fixed to the wheel and a braking device fixed to the chassis of the vehicle which brakes the rotational movement of the disk by friction. The braking device comprises, on each side of the brake disk, a brake pad consisting of a pad support bearing a brake pad. Each brake pad is mobile perpendicular to the plane of the disk (in a direction which will be referred to as the axial direction) and is guided by two of its ends known as “ears” in the housings of a yoke. Control members make it possible to exert a pressure on the brake pads in the axial direction. The two brake pads arranged on both sides of a disk thus permit the disk to be gripped during braking and its rotation to be braked.
During braking, the brake pads are driven in a direction which is tangential to the disk and the ears come into abutment, occasionally violently, with the base of their guide housing producing a noise known as “clonking” or knocking. To dampen the impact of the ears in their housing and thus reduce the noise, in the known manner a spring is provided which is located between each ear and its housing. This damping effect is obtained by deformation of the spring. The shape of the spring thus has to be adapted to the force exerted by the brake pad during its tangential displacement. This force depends on the mass of the pad and its driving speed. The calibration of the spring therefore, in principle, has to take account of the type of vehicle and the type of pad.
Moreover, the pad has to be able to be displaced axially as has been explained above. The ears of the pad thus have to slide in the retaining spring.
Thus there has to be both a sliding effect and a spring action on a single part.
Once the pad is in place and, due to the geometric inconsistencies and the spring action, the sliding system is deformed and produces a resilient/stiffening effect affecting the generation of noise during braking.
The subject of the invention is thus a device making it possible to improve the sliding of the ears of the pad when activating the braking.
The subject of the invention, therefore, is a mounting device for a brake pad in the housings of a disk brake yoke. Such a brake pad comprises at two of its ends two mounting ears and each ear is mounted in a housing of a disk brake yoke. The mounting device according to the invention comprises, for each pad ear, a first spring of linear or lamella shape, intended to bear, on the one hand, on the lower face of the housing of the yoke so as to separate the lower face of the ear from the lower face of the housing of the yoke.
According to one embodiment of the invention said spring comprises:                a first bearing limb which is placed against the lower face of the ear of the pad and which is intended to bear against said lower face;        a second sliding limb in contact with the lower face of the housing of the yoke. This limb has a curved shape. It is located parallel to a plane perpendicular to the plane of the ear and it has a convex surface intended to slide on said lower face of the housing of the yoke; and        a third limb and a fourth limb connected to one another and making it possible to connect the first limb to the second limb to separate them from one another.        
According to a variant, the device according to the invention comprises a second spring which comprises:                a first bearing limb intended to be placed against a lateral face of the ear of the pad;        a second sliding limb intended to be in contact with a lateral face of the housing of the yoke. This limb is located parallel to a plane perpendicular to the plane of the ear. It has a curved shape and has a convex surface intended to slide on said lateral face of the housing of the yoke;        a third limb and a fourth limb connected to one another and making it possible to connect the first limb to the second limb to separate them from one another.        
According to one advantageous embodiment of the invention, said first and second springs each comprise a fifth limb connected to the second limb of the spring and making it possible to grip the axial faces of the ear in cooperation with the third limb.
It may also be provided advantageously that said first and second springs each comprise a sixth limb connected to the first limb of the spring and make it possible to grip the axial faces of the ear of the pad in cooperation with the third limb.
According to a variant, said first and/or second springs each comprise a seventh limb connecting the sixth limb to the second limb of the spring.
According to a preferred embodiment of the invention, said first and second springs are in the form of a wire and their different limbs are located parallel to a plane which is perpendicular to the plane of the pad.
According to a variant of the invention, the mounting device may comprise a device having at least one slide plate. A first slide plate is intended to be inserted between a lateral face of a mounting ear of the pad and a lateral face of a housing of the yoke. This first slide plate is coupled mechanically by a resilient hinge of which the resilience is greater than the resilience of the first slide plate to a fixing device intended to be fixed to the yoke.
Advantageously, the first slide plate is coupled at one end to the fixing device such that its opposing end is intended to exert a pressing force on the face of said housing of the yoke when said mounting device is mounted on the yoke.
Advantageously it may also be provided that one edge of said first slide plate is coupled to an edge of a second slide plate forming part of the fixing device. This second fixing plate is intended to be pressed against a radial face of said housing of the yoke, said hinge comprising at least one connecting element of which the length is less than the length of said edges of the first and second slide plates.
According to an advantageous embodiment of the invention, the angle formed by the first and second plate, when the mounting device is not mounted on a disk brake yoke, is greater than the angle formed by the lateral and radial faces of the housing of a yoke on which the mounting device is intended to be mounted.
It may possibly be provided, therefore, that said angle formed by the first and the second plate, when the mounting device is not mounted on a disk brake yoke, is greater than 90°.
According to one embodiment of this fixing device, this device comprises a first leaf spring which cooperates with the second slide plate to grip a fixing part which forms part of the yoke.
It may also be provided that the fixing device comprises a second and a third leaf spring which grip said fixing part which forms part of the yoke.
According to one advantageous embodiment of the invention, the first slide plate and/or the second slide plate are made of stainless steel.
According to a further variant of the invention, the mounting device may comprise a coupling device fixed to the face of the pad, intended to be located opposite a brake operating piston, substantially in a central region of the brake pad. This coupling device is intended to couple the pad to the brake operating piston and comprises resilient blades which are intended to grip the periphery of said operating piston.
This coupling device comprises two blades located in a lateral direction (X) and intended to be diametrically opposed relative to the axis of the brake operating piston.
Advantageously, a further blade located in a radial direction (Y) is also provided, and intended to be above said brake operating piston.
The invention also relates to an application of the mounting devices thus disclosed to a disk brake, to guide the brake pads.
Advantageously, such a disk brake comprises a mounting device associated with each ear of the brake pads.